Sadang Station second-round pub with grilled pollock roe: Balgil

A second-round pub near Sadang Station, stuffed: Balgil Sadang Station Main Branch

Balgil Sadang Station Main Branch is a Sadang pub I went to for a second round with a hometown friend, since we hadn't had drinks together in ages. We'd already eaten quite a lot at the first place before moving on. So I figured we'd have a light drink, chat and head home... but plans never go the way you want, do they?

My friend loves food, and even after all that at round one, they started eating the side dishes with gusto the moment we got to Balgil. Wait, you did just eat dinner, right? That's how clean they scraped everything.

Where is Balgil Sadang Station Main Branch, and what kind of pub is it?

Balgil Sadang Station Main Branch is in the Sadang Station Exit 10 eating alley. There are so many restaurants and pubs around Sadang Station that picking a meeting spot is always a dilemma, but I liked that Balgil lets you choose from both Korean and Japanese dishes.

Balgil Sadang Station Main Branch is a Sadang Station pub serving a range of anju (drinking snacks) based on Korean and Japanese food. I'd recommend it when you want to eat and drink in a place with a bit more atmosphere than an ordinary pub. It feels like a good fit for catching up with friends, but also for dates or group gatherings.

The menu at Balgil is varied: a yukhoe (Korean beef tartare) set, pressure-cooker gopdori-tang (spicy chicken and beef tripe stew), crispy chili yuringi (Chinese-style fried chicken with sauce), pollock roe shrimp cream udon, tomato nabe (hot pot) and more.

Of all of it, the real pressure-cooker gopdori-tang advertised in big letters at the entrance looked so good. If this had been our first stop it would have been gopdori-tang, no question, but we're already full... I'll come back hungry next time and eat it properly 🐷

I walk down this street all the time and only now found out there was a pub in this spot.

Can you sit at an outdoor table at Balgil Sadang Station Main Branch?

Balgil Sadang Station Main Branch keeps the windows wide open indoors too, but this day I sat outside to enjoy the yajang (outdoor street-table) style.

I guess everyone comes outside when the weather's this nice.

Inside, the windows are wide open like this too, but

we came outside to enjoy the yajang style.

The menu and what we ordered

• Balgil tomato nabe
• Flame-grilled pollock roe

I was full, so at first I meant to eat just a little! But once the food actually arrives, it's a different story. With food in front of me, I'm just instantly excited 🐷

The road is right next to the table. A proper yajang.

What do you get from the Balgil review event?

If you join the review event at Balgil Sadang Station Main Branch, you can choose either yuja tomato or a rice ball. This time the yuja tomato from the review event came out first, and it's really a perfect palate cleanser. Next time I'll have the rice ball with the gopdori-tang.

What does Balgil tomato nabe taste like?

The Balgil tomato nabe came out right after, and it tastes like a tomato hangover pasta.

Since it's a nabe made with tomato, it should catch the eye of anyone looking for something different from the usual tang (soup) or jeongol (hot pot). At a pub like Balgil that serves both Korean and Western food, picking something like this among the familiar dishes is a recommendation from me!

It's also packed with pasta noodles. Forgetting that we'd already eaten plenty at round one, we're busily digging into the nabe.

My friend was especially serious about the anju, and at this point it feels like the only reason we split into a first and second round was to change places and reset the table... haha

I've never seen anyone sweep up the anju like this everywhere we go.. (and this is the second round!)

Does the flame-grilled pollock roe go with the tomato nabe?

The flame-grilled pollock roe was the second anju we ordered, after wiping out the tomato nabe, and it comes with cucumber and seaweed too 🐷 When I order grilled pollock roe out, the portion always feels small. Still, it's more of a side than a main, so it's good for picking at one piece at a time.

Ordering it with the tomato nabe gave us a soup plus a grilled dish, so the two didn't overlap, which I liked.

Next visit: pressure-cooker gopdori-tang

I only meant to have a light second round at Balgil Sadang Station Main Branch and go home, but my friend ate so well that before I knew it we'd cleared all the anju. Next time I'll definitely come hungry and try the pressure-cooker gopdori-tang. And that's the end of today's (drinking) mukbang.